


Acceptance of Death

by acciojd



Category: Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types, the dark world - Fandom
Genre: Breakup, F/M, Growing Old Together, Poor Loki, Protective Frigga (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 04:38:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12787119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acciojd/pseuds/acciojd
Summary: Loki once loved a mortal. Like Jane and Thor, it couldn’t last and so it didn’t.Inspired by this line from Thor: The Dark World: “This day, the next, a hundred years, it’s nothing! It’s a heartbeat! You’ll never be ready. The only woman whose love you prized will be snatched from you!”He wasn't trying to hurt Thor, he was trying to warn him.





	Acceptance of Death

Acceptance of Death

Summary: Loki once loved a mortal. Like Jane and Thor, it couldn’t last and so it didn’t

She was wise beyond her years. That was what Loki loved about her. She had known real pain, real heartache, real loss and real love before she had ever lay eyes on him. She was a survivor before she had met him, and would continue to survive after he left. 

Loki would travel to Midgard from time to time. It was an open secret, as he never sought to evade Heimdall, or perhaps more importantly, he wasn’t seeking to evade Frigga. He enjoyed people watching there. It made him feel powerful as he watched these mortals scurry around from one place, to another. He was loath to admit it but that’s why he started going there. He would look at them and wonder if they realized how insignificant they were. How their life was merely a blink in the realm of the universe?

He spotted her on a crisp November morning. He knew in this part of the country, it was usually warmer. November was a rare respite from the oppressive heat, as the temperature occasionally dipped below 70. She was had been jogging but had come to a stop not far from where he was sitting.  
It was her eyes that caught his attention. They were sad, distracted, and he could tell her mind was elsewhere than on her jog. He found himself curious as to what could overwhelm a Midgardian so much. What could they possibly have to be sad about? Didn’t they knew that their time was fleeting?

He followed her as she walked into a coffee shop, placed an order and sat down by the window. He sat down and talked to her. It was an age before cellphones and electronic devices. People talked more. Or perhaps she had just been looking for someone to talk too. 

Her name was Madeline.

Her husband had died a year before. She had a six year old daughter. She had been a lawyer, before her husband’s untimely death. A career woman, when women were expected to be home with their family. She had been stuck in a late hearing, and had asked her husband to pick up their daughter from school for her. 

He had been in an accident on his way to pick her up. 

She was on a leave of absence from her law firm. A very long leave of absence. She was trying to find herself once more, and of course, she happened to find Loki.

Loki was drawn to her. In her he saw strength and pain that could only rival his own.  
\----  
The first time they slept together, she told him it was a onetime thing. 

It wasn’t. 

It was six months into their relationship that he told her what he was. She didn’t believe him a first, but that changed as he showed her some of his powers. 

For a while she was insatiably curious. She drank up every tidbit of knowledge he gave her about life in Asgard. About their people and his responsibilities. About his reckless oaf of a brother. 

She let him into her life as well. He met her daughter, Sarah, a shy but precocious child. Sarah took to him almost immediately. Loki once found himself having a tea party with her and it brought him to tears of laughter. If only Thor could see him now. If Thor could see Loki using his magic to create fake smoke coming out of a child’s tea set. He’d never believe it. 

She found a gray hair one morning. Perhaps that’s what caused the high of their relationship to crash back to Earth. It was that night she asked him the question. 

“You won’t age?” Their room smelled of sweat and sex in the summer heat.

“I will. Just not like you.”

“Not in my lifetime.” She responded. There was a finite edge to her voice.

“No.”  
…..

She ended it a short time later. She sent Sarah to her mother’s for the night. They sat at her small kitchen table. The air felt thicker than usual. 

“Please, Maddie. I think I love you.” He begged. He hated how his voice broke. He hated the weakness. But for her, he was willing to show it.

“Loki…” She started, before shaking her head.

“I’ll be able to care for Sarah when you’re gone. And your grandchildren one day. No one you love will ever want for anything, as long I breathe. I swear that to you” 

“Loki, my love.”

“Please don’t do this.”

“You know I have to. I need someone I can grow old with, someone who can be a father to Sarah and not a peer.” She looked thoughtful.

“And you, you would watch me age. Watch as my body or my mind fail me. As Sarah grew up and the same thing happened to her and her children. And you’d be stuck because of your loyalty and your promise.” She sighed.

“It be nice, knowing my daughter was always protected from harm. Knowing that I would never be hurt by the death of my partner again. But you deserve more than that.” And with that she kissed him goodbye.

“Always remember that you deserve more than I can give you.” That was the last she said, shutting the door behind her and leaving Loki alone on the street.  
\-----

He went back to Asgard. He sulked for a while. The two years he spent on Earth with Madeline were simply blinks in the eye of his family. Thor didn’t even seem to notice he had been gone.

Frigga knew. She had seen what had happened. Had watched her son learn the heartbreak that loving a mortal could and would bestow.

“Why didn’t you stop me?” Loki asked her.

“There are some lessons you must learn on your own. Mortals are not always selfish. They are not always unaware of their own mortality as you once believed. They can love fiercely, and be truly just.” She comforted.

“You learned a lot from Madeline. And I don’t doubt that she didn’t love you. There are some things you must see for yourself.”

He would occasionally go back to Midgard to watch Madeline, but he never spoke to her on those visits. He watched as she grew older, as Sarah went off to University. He watched as Madeline would occasionally take a lover, but it never seemed to be more than one night or maybe two. He watched Sarah’s wedding from afar, as Madeline beamed and walked her down the aisle. 

One night he found her sitting on a bench near her apartment. Her hair had grown gray with age. Her skin wrinkled. Her once toned body was softer.

“Hello Loki.” She said, with a smile.

“Maddie.” His heart ached saying her name. She patted the bench next to her as an invitation to sit.

“You are as handsome as I remember.” She said with a smile.

“You are as beautiful.” He replied, and she laughed. 

“I’m almost 60 years old, you know?” She said.

“And I’m almost 2060. Your beauty was never your age.” With a flick of his hand, he casted an illusion spell, so she looked the same age as she did when he first met her. With another flick she was back to her elder self.

“Your beauty was always your strength, your intelligence, your ability to love.” He whispered. “I would have liked to meet your husband. He must have been quite a man to obtain such a woman.”

“He never obtained me. He ran with me. That was why we worked, and that, my darling, is why we could not. Our paths were not meant to end together. You were meant for more.”

“It doesn’t feel that way.” He said, with almost a pout.

She laughed again. “One day, Loki, you will realize how wonderful you are. It will happen when you stop trying to compete with your brother, and realize that you will always be stronger together than you are apart.” 

A sad smile graced her lips. “I regret very few things in life. I’ve learned to live with the decision to have Charlie pick up Sarah that day at school. But I regret not giving Sarah a sibling. She has her husband, and will one day have children of her own, but the love of a sibling is different. They can be your biggest rivalry, but can always be your strongest ally.”

Loki contemplated this as she got up for the bench.

“Can I join you, one last time?” He asked, with a signature smirk.

They made love one last time that night. It was perhaps not as exciting as it was in her prime, but it was nevertheless beautiful. 

When Loki left the next morning, he never saw Madeline again.  
……..  
When Thor fell in love with Jane, Loki remembered his mother’s words, how some lessons must be learned on their own. 

When Thor came to him to avenge their mother, he remembered Madeline’s words, how siblings can be your strongest ally. 

When Jane grew ill, when it looked as though Thor would lose her at any moment, Loki felt an overwhelming grief for Thor. For the first time, he was glad that Madeline said goodbye to him when she did. Watching her death would have shattered him. 

“This day, the next, a hundred years, it’s nothing! It’s a heartbeat! You’ll never be ready. The only woman whose love you prized will be snatched from you!” He shouted to his brother. A warning from his own heart.

“And will that satisfy you?” Thor spit back.

“Satisfaction’s not in my nature.” Loki replied, Madeline's smile on his mind.


End file.
